Chapter 3
Living in Outer Space

Photo by: innovari

Space stations, especially the most recent ISS, were designed to keep the
astronauts as comfortable as possible—the ISS modules are roomy,
bright, and kept at a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It is important that
the crew members are comfortable because they are kept busy all their
waking hours. In a typical day, crew members will spend twelve hours
working, two exercising, two preparing and eating meals, and eight hours
sleeping.

Despite the amenities provided, life in space reqiures considerable
acclimation. Once on board a space station, the first order of business
for novice astronauts is to become accustomed to the weightless
environment, adjust to living in close quarters, and master new
technologies necessary for carrying out routine daily activities. These
three conditions, unique to all space stations, mean that the most basic
and commonplace daily activities require rigorous attention, patience, and
coordination.

Space Adaptation Syndrome

The first sensation experienced by three-quarters of all astronauts in
weightlessness is space adaptation syndrome, more commonly known as space
sickness. It is a form of motion sickness that occurs in spaceflights when
astronauts are free to move about
in the weightless environment. The syndrome did not occur on the lunar
module or on early orbital flights because the astronauts were firmly
strapped into small capsules.

Symptoms of space adaptation syndrome vary from one person to another but
may include nausea, vomiting, anorexia, headache, malaise, drowsiness,
lethargy, paleness, and sweating. The sickness is believed to be caused by
sensory conflicts within and between the vestibular system—a
collection of sensitive organs in the inner ear that maintain balance and
orientation—and the visual system. Space physicians believe that
when astronauts float and spin in a weightless environment, what their
eyes see and what their vestibular organs sense lead to a neural mismatch
that upsets the nervous system.

As intense as the symptoms can be, space sickness is usually of short
duration, lasting from one to three days. Fortunately for astronauts, once
they experience it, it never reoccurs. Unfortunately for them, however,
although the sickness disappears relatively quickly, astronauts report
that floating vomit is one of the least pleasant aspects of the first few
days in space. When vomit is projected into the cabin, suction devices are
deployed to capture and contain it.

Physicians have been able to reduce the occurrence of space sickness by
employing countermeasures that include medications, head movement
exercises to accelerate the process of adaptation, head restraints, and
adjusting the vestibular system to weightlessness through biofeedback
training.

Meals

Space sickness usually involves a dramatic loss of appetite, but
eventually the astronaut begins eating again. When that happens, there are
many challenges for the first-time visitor to the ISS. Meals on space
stations present myriad problems because of weightlessness, a shortage of
storage space, spoilage,

Café ISS

Ed Lu, the American commander on the ISS, enjoyed working on the space
station as well as eating on it. While in space on the ISS, he wrote an
article about food titled "Eating at Café ISS" for
NASA's Web site. In the article, he describes some of the more
interesting and amusing experiences of dining in a weightless
environment.

We don't have a real kitchen up here, but we do have a kitchen
table. You might wonder of what use a table is if you can't set
anything down on it, but we have bungee straps and Velcro on the
tabletop so you can keep your food containers, spoon, napkins, etc.
from floating away. You can find Yuri [a Soviet cosmonaut] and I
around the table 3 times a day. In fact the table, which is located in
the Service Module, is kind of the social center of the ISS. Even
though we only have 2 crew members now, it is where we congregate when
we have time off. Of course there are no chairs around the table, what
we do is float around the table while we prepare our meals and eat.
There are a couple of handrails on the floor to slide your feet under
to stabilize yourself.

As for utensils, the only utensil we use is a spoon. All of the food
that requires a utensil to eat has some sort of sauce or at least some
moisture to it, so it naturally sticks to the spoon. This is the same
effect on the ground that allows drops of water to stick to windows,
here it allows us to eat without having our food fly all over the
place. This force isn't very strong, so you have to move fairly
slowly when eating, or the food will literally fly right off your
spoon and onto the wall.

The Russian drink packets are clear plastic and have a simple one-way
valve where you add water; while the other side of the packets has a
built in straw. The design is ingenious; you just cut off one end of
the packet with scissors to open up the valve, slide the packet onto
the water tap, turn on the water, mix well, and then use the scissors
on the other end to open up the straw. The problem is that if you
aren't careful, they have a tendency to leak and it is easy to
get juice or tea all over yourself or the walls. The same property of
liquids that lets them stick to your spoon also makes liquids stick to
your face.

Much of the Russian-supplied food comes in cans. One of the advantages
of cans is that if it is just for a short while, you can just let the
can float as long as you are careful to keep an eye on where it is
going. Remember that you don't have to worry about food
spilling out of the can if it turns upside down!

and a shortage of water needed for food preparation. In spite of these
obstacles to good food, astronauts look forward to meals more than any
other daily routine.

Most foods are dehydrated to conserve space and are packed into
compartments and freezers in the upper section and wardroom. Water, one of
the most precious commodities, is particularly problematic since it cannot
be compressed. It is also one of the heaviest commodities. As a result,
equipment has been designed to capture and recycle water from exhaled air
and even from urine.

All food is initially prepared, cooked, and packaged on Earth. Food is
processed in a way that makes it stick to a spoon and keeps it from
crumbling into hundreds of particles that could float away. Thick foods
such as sauces, pastes, oils, peanut butter, and moist cake batter are
used to bind dry, flaky foods together. Some foods are also selected for
their natural ability to hold together. Tortillas, for example, are
preferred to slices of bread because they create far fewer crumbs.
Floating bread crumbs are more than a minor annoyance. On Skylab,
astronauts complained about bread crumbs floating around the interior and
getting stuck in filters or in their eyes.

To make food keep as long as possible, most of what is prepared for the
ISS is freeze-dried, low-moisture, or thermostabilized—meaning that
it has been heated to kill bacteria—and then sealed in airtight
packages. To prepare them for consumption, foods require very little
preparation. Even many beverages are packaged in a dehydrated form and
then are slightly hydrated before they are consumed. The ISS's
galley, like many kitchens on Earth, is equipped with water, microwave
ovens, and refrigerators, allowing everyone on board to access more normal
types of fresh food, including fruits, vegetables, and even ice cream.

Nutritionists ensure that the food astronauts eat provides them with a
balanced supply of vitamins
and minerals. Meals are eaten three times a day, but because astronauts
expend less energy working in a weightless environment than they would on
Earth, their caloric requirements are considerably lower than they would
otherwise be. Calorie requirements differ from one astronaut to another.
For instance, a small woman would require only about nineteen hundred
calories a day whereas a large man would require about thirty-two hundred
calories.

On board the ISS, more than one hundred food items are available to
astronauts; half are provided by American nutritionists and half by their
Russian counterparts. This is done to provide a fair mix of the foods from
the two different cultures. American favorites are meatloaf and turkey
with mashed potatoes and gravy, spaghetti, a variety of soups, brownies,
peanut butter, and even ice cream. From the Russian chefs, favorites are a
thick cabbage and beet soup called borscht; a selection of pickled meats;
baursaki
, which are small fried doughnuts made from unleavened dough; and
kazakh
, which are meat-flavored noodles.

There are many other types of foods an astronaut can choose from, such as
fruits, nuts, chicken, beef, seafood, candy, and drinks, including coffee,
tea, orange juice, fruit punch, and lemonade. Condiments are provided such
as ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. Salt and pepper are available, but
only in a liquid form because in orbit astronauts cannot sprinkle salt and
pepper on their food; it would simply float away.

Some foods, such as brownies and fruit, can be eaten in their natural
form. Other foods require adding water, such as macaroni and cheese or
spaghetti. Some packaging, such as plastic tubes filled with mashed
potatoes and gravy and soft ice cream, prevent food from flying away
because they are sucked from holes at one end of the tubes. The food
packaging is designed to be flexible, easier to
use, and to maximize space when stowing or disposing of food containers.

Sleep

Just as calorie requirements are lower in orbit than on Earth, so too are
sleep requirements less. When the time for sleep does come, weightlessness
somewhat simplifies the process of bedding down. Since humans cannot sense
an "up" or "down" in a weightless environment,
they can sleep in any position. Since space is in short supply, designers
of space station interiors can position astronauts to sleep vertically or
horizontally. On the ISS, sleep compartments
provide space for four people. The first person sleeps on the top bunk,
the second on the lower bunk. A third person sleeps on the underside of
the lower bunk, actually facing the floor. A fourth person sleeps
vertically, attached to a wall with Velcro straps. Because the astronauts
are in a weightless environment, mattresses are not needed. Instead, each
bed consists of a padded board with a fireproof sleeping bag attached to
it. Astronauts zip themselves inside the sleeping bags, generally leaving
their arms out. Crew quarters also provide each astronaut with an
individual light, communications station, fan, sound-suppression blanket,
and sheets with weightlessness restraints for those who find the sleeping
bags too warm. Pillows are available as well.

Sleep can be difficult to find from time to time. Much like on Earth,
astronauts report waking up in

An astronaut writes at his ISS sleep station. Because of the
weightless environment, ISS astronauts need only a padded board and
sleeping bag to sleep comfortably.

the middle of their sleep period to use the bathroom, and distractions
can cause them to stay up late staring out the window. During their sleep
period, astronauts have reported having dreams and nightmares. The close
quarters can also result in sleep disruptions since crew members can
easily hear each other; weightlessness does not, apparently, prevent
snoring. In addition, sleeping near a window can be difficult since the
Sun rises every ninety minutes as the station orbits Earth. The sunlight
and warmth entering a window is enough to disturb a sleeper who is not
wearing a sleep mask.

At no time are all crew members allowed to sleep at the same time; someone
must always be awake to handle potential emergencies. Ground controllers
actually decide when individual crew members go to bed. When it is time to
wake up, the ground control sends wake-up music or a call to the crew. On
America's Skylab, ground control picked a song for an astronaut
each day. Sometimes a family member will request that controllers play a
favorite song for their particular loved one on the ISS. In other cases,
depending on the astronaut's own tastes, ground control may play
rock and roll, country and western, or classical music. However, most of
the time the wake-up call is unnecessary since most space station crew
members use an alarm clock just as they might on Earth.

Exercise

No matter what sleep schedule a crew member adheres to, exercise is a
critical part of the daily routine. Treadmills and ergometers, more
commonly called stationary bikes, are used extensively by astronauts to
maintain fitness. Such equipment has been used in space since Skylab in
the 1970s, although they tend to cause a good deal of vibration. This can
disrupt sensitive experiments elsewhere in the spacecraft, making
sophisticated shock absorption systems
necessary. Resistive exercise, a newer option to workouts, eliminates the
vibration issue. Astronauts stress their bones and muscles by working
against a resistive force, usually by pulling against strong bungee cords.
Less motion is involved, and so there is very little vibration.

Strenuous exercise is vital for the heart. Over time, the
astronaut's body responds to weightlessness by decreasing the
amount of blood. Without regular strenuous exercise, an astronaut's
heart will shrink, as it only has to pump this smaller volume of blood.
This condition creates problems once an astronaut returns to Earth, when
the heart must once again pull blood up to the brain against the force of
gravity.

Personal Hygiene

Just as important to keeping fit is keeping clean. At the same time,
sanitation is more difficult to maintain within the confines of a space
station than on Earth. Studies conducted on early space station flights
revealed that the populations of some microbes can increase rapidly under
the combination of weightlessness and the confined spaces of an orbiting
space station. The consequence is that many infectious diseases can easily
spread to everyone aboard a space station. This is of particular concern
since access to medical personnel is limited at best and pharmaceuticals
are in short supply.

To prevent the growth of microorganisms, the eating utensils, dining area,
toilet, and sleeping facilities in a space station are regularly cleaned.
All potential sources of contamination must be carefully isolated. Since
there is no washing machine aboard, soiled articles of clothing are sealed
in plastic bags. Garbage and trash are also sealed in plastic bags, as are
all food containers and used eating utensils, all of which is returned to
Earth for laboratory analysis before it is either recycled or destroyed.

Each crew member has his or her own personal hygiene kit, which contains
items such as a razor, shaving cream, hand cream, toothpaste, a
toothbrush, a comb, nail clippers, deodorant, and other personal items,
just as one might have on Earth. However, simple tasks like brushing teeth
can be challenging in a weightless environment. The water that one would
ordinarily use to wash out one's

A Typical Day on the ISS

Astronauts on the ISS work six and a half days per week. Each day is
carefully planned to optimize time for all needed activities, and the
only relief from long days is a half day each Saturday.

Astronauts wake up at 7:00 Greenwich Mean Time, which is 2
A
.
M
. in Houston and 11
A
.
M
. in Moscow. Astronauts cannot rely on the usual daylight and nighttime
cycles because in orbit and traveling seventeen thousand miles per hour,
crew members experience sixteen sunrises and sunsets each day. Because
of this rapid orbit rate, everyone must cover windows or wear masks to
sleep.

After rising, the next order of business is using the bathroom and
washing up. If all suction devices for the toilet and washbasin are
working properly, astronauts finish in fifteen minutes and move to the
breakfast area for the simplest and shortest of the day's three
meals. If the suction plumbing is not working, someone may spend the
remainder of the day fixing it, a common problem. At 8
A
.
M
. sharp, the daily planning conference begins that involves a conference
call with ground control centers in Houston and Moscow to review the
plan for the day and answer any questions. Following that, everyone gets
started on the day's work.

The work assignments vary week to week for each astronaut, but each will
spend about twelve hours a day performing some experiment or part of an
experiment. On the ISS, the most common work investigates how metal
alloys crystallize as they cool in the weightless environment. Another
major task involves work on plasma crystals, which are microscopic
plastic spheres with electrical charges that repel each other and in the
process form a regular lattice structure not found on Earth.

After work, or interspersed with experiments, each astronaut has certain
housekeeping responsibilities scheduled. These are things like cleaning
filters, performing periodic inspections of the emergency equipment,
testing the water supply, and vacuuming out the air ducts.

Twice during the day—once in the morning and once in the late
afternoon—each member completes a one-hour exercise program.
After sweating on the treadmill or bike, they wash using towelettes
impregnated with no-rinse soap or shampoo. At about 7
P
.
M
. the second conference with Houston and Moscow is held to review the
results of the day, after which dinner is eaten, the favorite activity
of the day. Following dinner, each astronaut has a couple of hours of
free time to send and read e-mails from home, take photographs out the
window, listen to music, and write entries in personal journals.
Finally, around 10 or 11
P
.
M
., it is time for bed.

mouth cannot simply be spit out to drain away; any that escapes during
brushing floats around in midair. To deal with this, astronauts use a
freshwater hose followed by a vacuum hose to suction off the used water.

Although brushing teeth is a relatively simple task, other hygiene tasks
prove time consuming and complicated under weightless conditions.
Commonplace activities on Earth, such as shaving and hair cutting, for
example, are slow, tedious processes because they must be done inside a
plastic tent equipped with a vacuum device to suction away loose hair and
whiskers. Escaped bits of hair are more than just unsightly. Any hair or
whiskers floating about can lodge in sensitive electronic equipment,
causing it to malfunction. Given the problems such activities present,
most astronauts choose to avoid shaving and haircuts for as long as
possible.

Some aspects of personal care, such as keeping clean, are not optional. In
Skylab, astronauts actually showered using an enclosed shower stall. The
stall was a cylinder with a collapsible fireproof canvas shower curtain
for sides and a metal ring to secure it to the floor. When not in use, the
whole assembly was collapsed and stored on the floor. To use the shower,
astronauts would step inside the ring on the floor, raise the canvas
curtain on a hoop, and attach it to the ceiling. Each astronaut was
provided a ration of three gallons of water dispersed from a flexible hose
with a push-button shower nozzle. The used water was contained within the
stall and was vacuumed from the shower enclosure into a bag and then
deposited in the waste tank. On the ISS, however, astronauts prefer quick
sponge baths using washcloths or moistened towelettes.

Although the complexity of bathing sometimes acts as a deterrent to
personal grooming, using the toilet is an even more complicated
task—and one that cannot be avoided. The toilet on all space
stations

A Skylab astronaut smiles after a hot shower in the collapsible,
sealed stall. Only three gallons of water per shower were allowed on
the station.

is a small facility against a wall with only a partial door for privacy.
The astronaut uses straps to keep from floating off the toilet seat; all
urine and excrement are sucked into five-gallon plastic containers. A fan
creates suction, doing the work that gravity does on the ground. The waste
is returned to Earth, where it is analyzed as part of ongoing research
into how the body functions in weightlessness.

Space Radiation

Not all hazards and inconveniences of space travel are as mundane and
mechanical as using the bathroom and brushing one's teeth. In
orbit, astronauts are exposed to radiation to a much greater extent than
on Earth, where the atmosphere provides a shield for all living things. Of
particular concern is the radiation emitted by the Sun, especially during
periods when massive flares erupt from the Sun's surface. The
radiation released during these massive

Space Suits

To explore and work in space, astronauts must take their environment
with them because there is no atmospheric pressure and no oxygen to
sustain life outside of their craft. Inside the spacecraft, the
atmosphere can be controlled so that special clothing is not needed, but
when outside, humans need the protection of a space suit.

The $12-million space suits used for space walks on Skylab and the
International Space Station are a modular design so complex that users
require an assistant to help put them on. The lower module, called the
Lower Torso Assembly (LTA), roughly the equivalent of pants and boots,
consists of a waist module, trousers module, and boots. The pieces are
made of fabric but are joined together using metal bearing rings. The
term
fabric
is really an understatement for the material, however. It contains a
layer of urethane-coated nylon, followed by Dacron, neoprene-coated
nylon, five layers of aluminized Mylar, and an outside layer of Teflon,
Kevlar, and Nomex. Collectively, these many layers control internal
temperature and protect the body against micrometeorite strikes that
otherwise would easily penetrate the suit, causing a loss of pressure
and oxygen, and pass through the astronaut's body, possibly
causing death.

The counterpart to the LTA is the Hard Upper Torso (HUT), which is made
of fiberglass and connects the arm module, glove module, and helmet
module. The Primary Life Support System (PLSS) attaches to the back of
the HUT. It resembles a backpack and provides the astronaut with oxygen
and battery packs. The PLSS also controls the air pressure in the suit
as well as the temperature of the oxygen and water that run through the
garment to keep the astronaut cool. The HUT removes humidity, odors, and
carbon dioxide from the air inside the suit and also carries the
communication equipment and a multitude of sensors. A secondary oxygen
pack attaches to the bottom of the PLSS for emergency oxygen and other
life support functions. On the front of the HUT, astronauts carry a
Display and Control Module, which keeps them informed about the status
of the PLSS.

Apollo space helmets are formed from high-strength polycarbonate and
Kevlar and are attached to the space suit by a pressure-sealing neck
ring. Unlike earlier helmets, which were closely fitted and moved with
the crew member's head, the Skylab helmet is fixed and the head
is free to move within it. While walking in space, astronauts wear an
outer visor assembly over the polycarbonate helmet to shield against
eye-damaging ultraviolet radiation and to maintain head and face thermal
comfort.

explosions passes through delicate human tissue and can damage cells.

The primary risk to astronauts comes in the form of an increased
likelihood of cancer. Dr. Francis Cucinotta, director of Space Radiation
Health at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, says,
"Younger women are particularly vulnerable to cell and tissue
damage from space radiation. The greatest threat is an increased chance of
developing breast, ovarian or uterine cancer."
16
Dr. Cucinotta adds that men's bodies overall are less sensitive to
radiation, but even so, a forty-five-year-old male astronaut will only be
allowed by NASA to spend a total of about 250 days in space. A clear
understanding of the threat has not yet been achieved, however. According
to physicians writing for the European Space Agency, "The long-term
effects of space radiation on the human body . . . are still totally
unknown."
17
This view is echoed by Dr. Paul Todd, chairman of the American Society
for Gravitational and Space Biology, who adds, "This is not an
easily solved scientific problem."
18

Space Walks

Concerns over potential overexposure to radiation become even more acute
when astronauts leave the shielded environment of their space stations and
venture outside. For a variety of reasons, space walks, referred to by
aerospace personnel as extravehicular activities (EVAs), are necessary.
Such activities as attaching new modules, repairing equipment, and
replacing worn-out parts all require some EVAs. ISS planners anticipate
that the assembly of all modules will require about fourteen hundred hours
of EVAs and about the same number over the lifetime of the ISS for a
variety of repairs and adjustments.

Prior to departing the craft, astronauts don their pressurized space
suits, which can sustain them for up to six hours at a time. Aboard the
ISS, space suits
have gloves with fingertip warmers for better dexterity, radios with
multiple channels for communications, helmet-mounted floodlights and
spotlights, internal controls for heat and cooling, and new multilayer
fabrics to protect against extreme temperatures, ultraviolet radiation,
and even micrometeorites. During an EVA, the weightless environment is a
distinct advantage since each fully equipped space suit weighs 220 pounds
on Earth.

Prior to departure, astronauts suit up in an airlock, which is a
compartment that is sealed off from the space station. Then, all air is
pumped out, which accomplishes two important objectives. First, it allows
the astronauts to adjust to gas mixture differences in their space suits.
Second, they gradually adjust to the change from the atmospheric pressure
maintained in the space station to the dramatically lower pressure of
space. After about forty minutes, the hatch is opened to the outside, the
astronauts clip on a nylon cord that acts as a tether, and they begin
their EVA. Against the possibility that the tether could become
accidentally detached, NASA engineers developed a jet-powered backpack
that allows free-floating crew members to fly back to the station.

EVAs are not undertaken without good reason, nor are they done without
careful preparation. According to ISS astronaut Don Pettit,
"Nothing happens fast. It takes several days to prepare for a space
walk. Small details are important. We clean our visors and spread a thin
layer of anti-fog on the inside surface. If there is too much anti-fog it
can make your eyes sting and water; too little and it will fog up. It has
to be just right if you want to see anything."
19

Once in space, astronauts must move slowly using hand and toe holds welded
to the exterior. Movement is slow because the bulky space suit contains
hundreds of wires and cords that could snag or tangle. A space walk is no
time to take chances, and when things go wrong, EVAs are sometimes
aborted.
Astronaut Jerry M. Linenger explains that each arm and leg movement
during an EVA requires a great deal of thought and planning. There are
plenty of hazards, and a single mistake could be catastrophic:

A tear big enough to expose you to the full vacuum of space would be one
of the most painful deaths imaginable. All the air would be sucked from
your lungs. Blood would feel as if it was boiling in your veins, and
your internal organs would go into seizure. A space walker must keep
tethered to his spacecraft. There are no second chances.
20

The thirty-year history of space stations has clearly established the
viability of humans living and working in orbit. Dozens of astronauts
living successfully in space for a total of thousands of days have laid a
foundation for continued research on life in space. What at one time was a
topic of conjecture has been conclusively and decisively answered by
experimentation. During the 1970s physicians specializing in space
medicine also set out to establish whether the human body could
successfully function in a weightless environment. With that objective and
others in mind, hundreds of medical experiments have revealed some
interesting results.

That was a good read. Of course, they don't mention sex. :) As far as sleep, if you're seatbelted to the wall, you'll surely float into a fetal position assuming you sleep in your clothes instead of the sleeping bag. The perfect mattress. No pressure points!

This is a very informative article that helped me a lot on my science project! I completed everything except jobs/roles on the station. But I appreciate that you put this out there because it will get quite a bit of information about living in space to people who want or need to learn about it. Thank you and Great Job!!

All the information.is quiet good. Very interesting. You may not realize what being in space involves, these readings give you a clear and definite vision of what they have to go through, just to do some simple things like bushing your teeth.

It would be out of this world to go into space, it'd be the most I have ever explored in my natural born life. But apart of me thinks it would be kind of scary, blackness,huge planets...the sun up close. It'd be something new. I think I'd consider going if I could. It would be fun to walk on the moon.